False confession and hugs

"He blatantly attacked my students in broad daylight. We can't let him get away with this otherwise it will set up a bad precedent and everyone will start attacking each other in order to solve their little problems." Snape said in a voice louder than Harry had ever heard before and he wondered if Snape really wanted to punish him or if he was trying to protect him someway even now.

In a way, he had to maintain his charade in front of other people so that when Voldemort returns, he would not doubt Snape's loyalty. But at the same time, Harry knew that Snape never really liked him very much because he looked similar to James Potter so he could never be sure about all this.

"Now now Severus. There's no need to be so hostile about the incident." Dumbledore said with a calm expression while Harry observed the room with a bored expression and wondered if he could take out the Gryffindor sword from the Sorting hat as well. Probably not.

He was never the foolish brave kind of guy like the original Harry.

"Hostile? He attacked eight students of my house and sent them to infirmary."

"With only minor injuries to Mr Draco Malfoy with the rest of the students being merely stunned. There is no need to escalate this simple child brawl Severus." Dumbledore said with a kind smile in a tone that clearly indicated that he knew better than anyone else.

Had he not seen the movies, had he not known the kind of manipulator that Albus Dumbledore was.

Then there was the fact that he had been setting up the original Harry Potter to die all this while as well. If he had not already known all this, then he would have probably fallen for his grandfatherly attitude as well. But as it was, he knew that Albus might be a good person but his plans for Harry were anything but good.

"Still Headmaster, you can't let him go away scot free like this." Severus pleaded and at last Albus turned his focus on Harry who was now looking at the proceedings with a bored expression.

"Harry my boy." Albus said with a gentle and caring smile "Can you tell me what happened in the library."

"Sure Headmaster." He said with a calm expression while making sure to not look Albus in the eye. Doing so would be a stupid mistake considering how Albus Dumbledore was amongst the few master Legilimens in Magical Britain.

"But before I do, I am curious if you support the idea of purebloods being superior to muggleborns and halfbloods." He asked curiously to which Dumbledore gave another grandfatherly smile.

"No my boy. Why would you think so?"

"Because I've often heard Draco calling other students in my class names such a filthy mudblood, blood traitors and dirty halfblood and I've never seen any teacher punish him for that. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen him any teacher reprimand him for that either so I was wondering if you or the Staff of Hogwarts condone such prejudice and discrimination."

Dumbledore's smile fell at once and suddenly it looked like he had aged a few decades of so.

"No Harry. I've not heard any such reports regarding Mr Draco Malfoy's behaviour." He said in a sad voice "But I'll be sure to tell my staff to curb such behaviour in the future."

At Harry's nod, he continued "Now, can you tell me what happened at the library Harry."

"It was not much of a story but if you insist."

After that, he went ahead and started explaining that he hit Draco because he was calling Hermione a filthy halfblood. How he simply stunned Crabbe, Goyle and the third Slytherin because they were coming to attack him and the fact that he banished the four older Slytherins because they ganged up on him and he felt threatened by them.

By the end of the explanation, Dumbledore merely looked sad and let him go without any house point deduction or detention.

Before leaving, Harry felt the urge to ask for the Invisibility Cloak, which was an heirloom that belonged to House Potter but refrained from doing so.

His Shroud of Concealment worked pretty much like an Invisibility Cloak, even better in some cases and he didn't want to make Albus suspicious about him by knowing about things that could not have possibly known so with a last look at the Headmaster's office, he left.

—————

"Oh Harry." And with that, he found himself being hugged by Hermione who was sitting in the courtyard near the Greenhouses.

Harry hesitated for a moment before he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back as well.

He liked this feeling. No one has ever hugged him as far as he could remember.

He had no such recollections from his previous life and Aunt Petunia or Uncle Dursley would never hug the 'Freak' in their house.

He liked this feeling a lot.

He hugged her back and put his head on her shoulder and took in the fragrance coming from her hair.

"You smell very good." He murmured in her ears softly and felt her stiffen under his arms before she dropped her arms from around him and stepped back, her face flushed red.

He felt a bit sad at losing the hug but composed himself quickly before she could see this moment of weakness.

"You know that was the first hug I've ever received in my life as far as I could remember." He said softly and her eyes widened at those words.

"What? What do you mean by that?" She asked with a concerned look in her eyes.

He thought for a moment before he took her soft hands and led her to one of the abandoned classroom.

"What are we doing here Harry?" she asked in confusion and he gave her a look which said that he would explain everything now before he sat her on a empty chair and stood in front of her.

"You already know that my parents died when I was a baby, right?" He said and at her nod he continued.

"What most people don't know is that after my parents death I was sent to live with my muggle relatives from my mother's side." At her nod he continued "And what almost no one knows about is that my relatives… they were not very good people."

She looked like she was about to say something. Probably chastise him about talking bad about his relatives but he held up his hands and silenced her.

"Listen to the whole story before you judge me and say something that you'll regret." He said with a bit of steel in his words and she gave a sheepish look before nodding at him to continue.

"Most muggle parents are a bit concerned when they see accidental magic. Some of the are those who take it in stride and go along with it, considering it a gift from the heavens. Some on the other hand, take it the wrong way and decide to hate the child and blame all that is wrong in their life at the child."

"My muggle relatives were on that end of the scale." He explained and her eyes widened a bit at that news and he continued.

"Until I was 5 years old, I used to think that my name was a Freak." He said, remembering the memories he had received from the original Harry when he inherited this body. "It wasn't until I was sent to school that I realized that my name was actually Harry Potter and my 'guardians' called me freak because a lot of accidental magic happened around me as a child." He explained.

"My aunt… she didn't take it very well because she had some deep hatred toward the magical world so she taught me how to make food, tend to the garden and clean the house at a very young age. And by very young age, I mean very young age."

"But my uncle, he was, worse." At this point his breath hitched for some reason and he suddenly realized that he had never really planned to tell his story to anyone.

In fact, this was not his story either. He had only inherited the memories from this body when his soul entered it. It didn't meant that he had actually gone through those moments.

But still, he felt a bit sad and forlorn whenever he thought about the things that the original Harry went through.

He wondered why that was because he was normally not an emotional person.

Hermione nodded at him to continue and with her supportive gesture, he continued "My uncle, he is spending 15 year time in jail for child abuse and domestic violence."

He then thought about telling her about what the original Harry Potter had suffered but then his thoughts went elsewhere and he stood up and removed his robes from his body.

"Harry. What are you doing?" Hermione asked in a scandalized manner and looked away before he removed his shirt, her face flashing pink once again and he smiled sadly at that.

"Look at me Hermione." He said softly and she slowly turned her head to look at his naked chest and her face turned beet red at that before her eyes fell on the scars that he'd received from his uncle at which point all colour drained from her face at once.

"Harry. Oh my god." She said as a immensely sad look crossed her face and she took a step forward to look at his scars and she raised a hand to touch his scars but he stopped her and wore his shirt once again.

"People in the wizarding world believe that I lived in some kind of large castle with a loving family, going on adventure from time to time, slaying ghouls and hags in my wake." He said with a chuckle and watched with sadness as tears formed into Hermione's eyes "The truth is not so grand. Is it?" he asked and she jumped up and hugged him tightly once again.

He smiled a bit and wrapped his arms around her waist as well before lifting her off the ground and inhaling her fragrance.

"That was the second hug I've ever received in my life." He said softly with a sad smile and realized that this event had already changed something within him and that their relationship would never be the same after today.